Will Shapo pull it off again?

The Canadian destroyed Lehecka in their last meeting—with him, anything’s possible.

I remember that match really well, and more broadly Shapovalov’s whole run coming out of qualies—he steamrolled everyone and was playing like hardened steel. We haven’t seen him at that level since, unfortunately; his game is so high-risk that it’s tough to play like that all year, especially since he often spirals mentally. But when everything clicks, the matches are entirely on his racquet. After a swift first round against O’Connell, should we already label him a dangerous dark horse? I’m tempted to say he always is, but the question is whether we can trust him again after just one good match. For me, no—the matchup was too favorable for him and it was only O’Connell. Lehecka is two notches above. The Czech is having a very solid season and managed his schedule well before this tournament. We’ve seen plenty of top players come in totally burnt out from the Laver Cup/Davis Cup back-to-back and the start of the Asian swing, while Lehecka only played the Davis Cup and deliberately skipped everything after. I’ll repeat what I said in my first-round analysis: he played at an exceptional level in the Davis Cup. His first round here was serious and clean; the scoreline wasn’t a blowout, but it’s an R1 and Halys serves well. Suffice it to say I rate the Czech highly right now—he’s taken a real step forward this year and seems much closer to top-10 level than some guys who are actually in it. The matchup isn’t amazing in the sense that nobody likes playing Shapo, but with his serve quality and power, he’s got what it takes to match the intensity the Canadian brings. I’m obviously wary of Shapo, but let’s be careful not to get carried away with him just yet.